Groupon Hopes For Increased User Location Data Access

Daily deals behemoth Groupon has divulged its plans for tracking the location of its mobile customers before the US Congress.

Responding to a letter sent by Congressmen Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, and Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, Groupon general counsel David Schellhase revealed that the company plans to track the location of its mobile users even when they are not using the app.

"Groupon currently does not access location data when the Groupon mobile application is not running. However, our customers are asking for services that require this functionality,” Schellhase explained.

“In order to choose a relevant deal for the user at the correct time, location information would need to be collected about the user just before noon, even if the Groupon mobile application is not running on the device at that time,” he said, adding that the functionality will be adopted by Groupon in the future.

The revelation comes after the Congressmen wrote to Groupon inquiring about its new privacy and data collecting policy.

The company recently filed for an initial public offering, hoping to raise $750 million. Groupon’s IPO is one of the most highly awaited by the market after Facebook’s.